1. Technical Field
The invention relates to electronic commerce in a computer environment. More particularly, the invention relates to the creation of intelligent receipts for electronic commerce and impartial intermediation for electronic negotiations in a computer environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic commerce systems have grown dramatically in popularity in a very short time. More and more- consumers are switching from shopping in the local shopping malls to shopping online across the Internet.
The current models for electronic commerce deal mostly with secure transactions at the purchase stage. Digital certificates and Secure Socket Layers (SSL) are used to ensure that the buyer""s transaction is secure from outside eyes.
However, the receipt stage of the transaction where the buyer receives confirmation of a purchase is still rather primitive. The current approaches to issuing a receipt for a transaction are simply to send an email to the buyer describing the transaction details or force the buyer to print out a transaction summary web page. These approaches do not take advantage of the power of the Internet and the buyer""s computer system.
Issuing a dynamic receipt to a buyer gives merchants and manufacturers an opportunity to supply the buyer with more information about their products and services, both present and future. Further, it gives the buyer a chance to give merchants and manufacturers valuable feedback.
It would be advantageous to provide a smart electronic receipt system that creates dynamic, smart receipts that allow merchants and manufacturers to present value added services to the buyer. It would further be advantageous to provide a smart electronic receipt system that allows merchants and manufacturers to constantly update the smart receipt to keep the buyer up to date with current changes and information.
The invention provides a smart electronic receipt system. The system creates smart receipts that allow merchants and manufacturers to include value added services to the smart receipts. In addition, the invention provides a system that allows the smart receipts to be dynamically updated with new information from merchants and manufacturers.
A preferred embodiment of the invention provides intelligent receipts, called Smart Receipts, that electronically document a transaction between two parties. Smart Receipts maintain a persistent connection between two parties following a successful online transaction. A Trusted Agent on the Buyer""s client system creates an order record which is stored in a database on a Trusted Agent Server. The order record starts the transaction process with the merchant.
A Smart Receipt is delivered by a Smart Receipt Agent over a secure connection from the merchant to the Trusted Agent Server upon successful completion of a purchase. The Smart Receipt reflects the details of the transaction. It is stored in a secure database on the Trusted Agent Server and is made available to the Buyer (user). The user can sort and browse his Smart Receipts through a Trusted Agent located on his machine.
The Trusted Agent Server compares the order record Limited Edition Digital Objects (LEDOs) stored in database with the Smart Receipt""s LEDO to find the corresponding order record. A transaction cannot be completed without a matching order and Smart Receipt record pair.
The Smart Receipt provides the customer with detailed information about an online purchase in a standardized format. Hyperlinks embedded in the Smart Receipt enable the customer to access customer service and order status. The merchant may also embed additional services within the Smart Receipt, including special offers for future purchases. Offers provided in a Smart Receipt can be personalized to a user""s preferences which are stored on the Trusted Agent Server.
Each Smart Receipt is comprised of a chain of LEDOs with each LEDO object having a unique owner. Smart Receipts are dynamic entities and are continuously updated until the Buyer deletes it from the Trusted Agent Server.
The dynamic nature of Smart Receipts allow a merchant or manufacturer to update a Smart Receipt at any time to notify a customer of new events. A merchant can specify that a return receipt be sent to the merchant when the user receives the associated Smart Receipt. Merchants can also provide post-purchase services to a customer by embedding additional information within a Smart Receipt.
A further embodiment of the invention provides a Trusted Agent Server to act as an. impartial trusted intermediary between parties involved in a negotiation. each step of the negotiation process is recorded as a LEDO in a Smart Receipt. The Smart Receipt is stored on a secure database on the Trusted Agent Server in the same manner as normal Smart Receipts. A Trusted Agent on each party""s client system submits a party""s offer, counter-offer, or acceptance LEDO to the Trusted Agent Server. Each party can browse the Smart Receipt through their Trusted Agent.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description in combination with the accompanying drawings, illustrating, by way of example, the principles of the invention.